Today’s Buddy Scholar, Carmen, talks below about her plans after graduation, the most influential person in her life, and why happiness is so important.

After I finish Bennett, I want to immediately enter graduate school for a Master’s in education and mathematics. Perhaps I’ll teach high school for a while after that but, more than likely, I’ll go into a Ph.D. program for mathematics. I would then like to get a job as a college professor and do research in topology or some other mathematical field.

Currently, I am participating in a REU (Research Experience for Undergraduate). My current research pertains to vaccinations and game theory. During the school year, I tend to get involved in the math department’s activities including workshops and our Math and Computer Science Club meetings. I hope to gain a position on the executive board of our club this upcoming semester. I often get involved in activities having to do with the Political Science department. I participated in a Model United Nations last March and plan to continue participating for years to come.

My mother has been very influential in my life. She sacrificed a lot to bring my sister and I to the United States so that I could do what I’m doing right now. I’m also heavily influenced by online creators, especially those who make videos about math.

I have a few ideas that I like to keep in mind always. They don’t really fit into phrases but I’ll describe them. Firstly, I like to imagine other people complexly. It’s far too easy to consider people as if they were just background characters to your own life as opposed to the main characters of their own lives. Secondly, I try to create sustainable sources of happiness for myself. That is, I want to be happy now in a way that won’t keep me from being happy later. In keeping with the first idea, I also make sure I don’t take happiness from other people. Everyone else has the right to have a sustainable source of happiness. Now, this does not mean that I expect to be happy 24/7/365. Just that doing something that makes me unhappy isn’t worth it.

I was born and raised in the Dominican Republic. Spanish is my first language. I tie both of these things to my identity.